Raina becomes 1st Indian batsman to score 8,000 T20 runs

Out-of-favour India batsman Suresh Raina on Monday completed a milestone after featuring in Uttar Pradesh’s 77-run win over Puducherry in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019. He became the first Indian cricketer to score 8,000 runs in the shortest format of the game.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star is the sixth batsman overall to achieve the milestone. Raina has a total of 8001 runs from 300 matches, 178 runs more than India captain Virat Kohli, who has 7833 from 251 matches.

West Indies superstar Chris Gayle is on top of the table with 12,298 runs in 269 matches while former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum is second with 9922 runs from 370 matches. Kieron Pollard (8838), Shoaib Malik (8603), and David Warner (8111) are the other players in the top five run-scorers list in T20 cricket.

The 32-year-old also became the second Indian player to play 300 T20 games. Wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni tops the list with 301 matches while India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma is third with 299 matches. Earlier in the tournament, he joined Rohit Sharma in becoming the second Indian cricketer to hit 300 T20 sixes.

Raina last played for the Men in Blue in July last year in an ODI against England. He will return for CSK in the 12th edition of Indian Premier League, starting March 23 in Chennai. They will face Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season-opener.